Perennial powers collide Friday night as class 3A 10th ranked Harlan hosts 4A top ranked and defending state champion Lewis Central. Harlan coach Todd Bladt says a first rounds playoff loss to Creston last season has provided motivation for his team.
Sophomore quarterback Gabe Arkfeld will direct the Cyclone offense.
Bladt on the keys to the game.
The NASCAR Cup Series will return to the Iowa Speedway in 2025. The Hy-Vee 350 will run on August third with the Xfinity series race a day early. The Cup Series debuted at the Newton track in June and Iowa Speedway president Eric Peterson says he was confident of its return.
Peterson says the fans showed why Iowa Speedway deserves a spot on the Cup Schedule.
A new race in Mexico City takes the mid-June spot on the schedule and that opened up the date in early August.
Peterson says the racing surface received positive feedback after a partial repave and there are no plans for any further changes.
(Radio Iowa) – A health insurance company is investing millions of dollars in mental tele-health services in Iowa’s K-12 public schools. The Cedar Rapids Community School District received one-and-a-half million dollars this week from Minnesota-based insurer UnitedHealth Group. Superintendent Tawana Grover says the money will help pay for an online tele-health portal that students can use to access mental health counseling.
“It’s one thing to check in,” Grover says. “It’s another thing to spend 30 minutes or an hour with someone that is solely focused on your needs, what you need, what you’re dealing with, and helping to not only listen, but to provide you with strategies that you can use whenever you go beyond the session.” The provider is Hazel Health, which focuses on school-based care. Brian Masterson, UnitedHealth’s senior behavioral health medical director, says starting in the schools could prevent longer term, more acute behavioral issues.
“We’ve been contemplating this for a few years, working with how do you address the mental health crisis in in our society, but also how to address that by working through it so you start an earlier time period,” Masterson says. “So in schools and those types of things, is an opportunity to teach people about the constructs of mental well-being.” UnitedHealth says it aims to provide the resources to historically under-served and rural communities. In the end, the program goal is to impact 100-thousand students.
As of Wednesday, it has funded the creation of two such programs in Des Moines and Council Bluffs. No rural programs have been announced.
(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a woman on drug-related charges this (Thursday) morning. 38-year-old Sara Sue Batten, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 9-a.m. in the 1200 block of N. Broadway in Red Oak, on charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia. Batten was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.
(Radio Iowa)- Iowa’s Congressional delegation is back in Iowa for a work period to meet with people in their district. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, hopes they can get some work done when they return to Washington. “We’re not in session next week, but we’re in session the next three weeks after that, I’m hopeful we’re still able to move forward with good legislation,” she says. “There’s a lot of time-centric bills that we’ve put out that I’m continuing to advocate to our leadership that we need to move the ball forward on those.” This is an election year and that can often keep legislation from moving forward.
Hinson says one of the key things they have to address is the Farm Bill. “I’m hopeful we’re able to get our bill across the finish line in a bipartisan way, but again, if we can’t by that September 30th deadline, I will support an extension,” Hinson says. Hinson says she’s not sure what a Farm Bill extension would look like.
She made her comments during her weekly conference call with reporters.
(Radio Iowa) – The new Farm Bill that has been delayed multiple times is one of the key topics of discussion at the Iowa Farm Progress Show that’s going on in Boone.
U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says he still feels it can get done yet this year. “Here’s what I’m optimistic about. I’m optimistic about the people who are involved in this process understanding the importance of it, of getting it done, certainly before the end of the year,” Vilsack says. “That’s important, because if it doesn’t get done before the end of the year, or if there’s not an extension before the end of the year, then there’s some ramifications that are pretty dire.”
The former Iowa Governor says both sides have to take the same approach. “To get it done, I think everyone in the process needs to be practical. And by that, I mean you have to take a look at what actual resources are indeed available for any new programs or expansions of existing programs, and try to fit whatever you’re proposing within the real cost,” he says.
Iowa Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra says increasing prices paid under crop insurance is a key reason to get the bill done this year. “You’ve got corn at three-dollars and 60 cents, you got soybeans at nine dollars and 40 or 50 cents, whatever it might be. I mean, it’s the killer,” he says. “We’ve got to increase those revenue prices, and we got to make sure that crop insurance is there and available, because we know it’s going to be used this year.”
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack (photo from Ag Secretary’s office)
House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson of Pennsylvania also discussed the Farm Bill in Boone. “I think it’s urgent that we do that this year. I to me, I have an urgency. I want to do it before the election. I think would that that’s really important. It’s important for our farm families,” Thompson says. He says the bill is being held up in the Senate. “Well, part of it is, you know, the Senate just has 90 pages of ideas. Some of them are great ideas, and they dovetail nicely with what we pass. Some of them are not so good ideas,” Thompson says. He says with only ideas, the lead senator is unsure if there are 60 votes to bring the bill forward.
(Thanks to Brent Barnett of the Brownfield Network.)
Iowa players say the goal remains the same even though head coach Kirk Ferentz won’t be at Saturday’s opener against Illinois State. The veteran coach is serving a one game suspension for a recruiting violation. Hawkeye defensive end Deontae Craig.
Craig says the focus this week has been on preparation.
Craig says the game is motivating enough.
Hawkeye corner Jermari Harris says they are not using the absence of their head coach as a rallying cry.
Like the Iowa defense, safety Sebastian Castro enters the season with a lot of hype. He earned All American honors in 2023 but says none of that matters once the season kicks off.
Iowa State receiver Jayden Higgins knows North Dakota will be motivated in Saturday’s season opener in Jack Trice Stadium. The native of Florida began his college career at FCS Eastern Kentucky before joining the ISU program.
Higgins says there are a lot of unknowns in a season opener and in-game adjustments will be crucial.
Defensive end Tyler Onyedim says a key will b slowing down the Fighting Hawks’ ground game.
Onyedim says they are ready for a game.
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Former University of Iowa unanimous All-American Shonn Greene will serve as honorary captain when the Hawkeyes host Illinois State on Saturday on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium. Kickoff is set for 11:01 a.m. (CT) and the game will be televised on Big Ten Network.
Greene was recipient of the 2008 Doak Walker Award, presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate running back, after leading the Hawkeyes to nine wins and rushing for more than 100 yards in every game. He is only the second running back in Iowa history (Nile Kinnick) to earn consensus All-America honors. Following the 2008 season, Greene was honored with the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, emblematic of the league’s most valuable player. He was named a co-captain and MVP following his senior campaign.
Greene holds the Iowa single season records for yards rushing (1,850) and rushing touchdowns (20). He also is tied for most rushing scores in a game when he crossed the goal line four times against Wisconsin in 2008. He ranks 12th on Iowa’s career rushing yardage list with 2,228 yards, despite playing only one full season. Greene lettered three times (2005-06-08).
The Sicklerville, New Jersey, native played six seasons in the National Football League after being drafted in the third round by the New York Jets in 2009. He played four years with the Jets (2009-12) and two seasons with the Tennessee Titans (2013-14). Greene eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing in back-to-back years in 2011 (1,054) and 2012 (1,063).
Greene, who will be inducted into the Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame this weekend, will accompany the Iowa captains to midfield for Saturday’s pregame coin toss. He will also be with the Hawkeyes in the locker room before and after the game.
HELEN SKELLENGER, 89, of Atlantic, died Wednesday, August 28, 2024, at Heritage House in Atlantic. Funeral services for HELEN SKELLENGER will be held 2-p.m. Wed., Sept. 4, 2024, at Roland Funeral Home in Atlantic.
Visitation at the funeral home is on Wednesday from 1-until 2-p.m.
Burial is in the Atlantic Cemetery.
Memorials may be directed to the family for later designation to the Atlantic Animal Shelter and the Western Iowa Homeless and Feral Cat Program.
HELEN SKELLENGER is survived by:
Her daughters – Linda Lantz, and Rita (Alan) Chesnut.
Her son -Russell (Gloria) Steffens.
4 grandchildren; and 9 great-grandchildren.
Condolences may be left at www.rolandfuneralservice.com.
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